Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Shunji Katoh

Shinji Tamaki

Kenji Kikuchi

Hiroshi Hosokawa

Michiharu Suzuki

Hideo Yoshizawa

Hiroshi Ikeguchi

Junji Yamabe

Keiichi Yoshida

Masayuki Yamane

Shingo Kuboki

Masasumi Yahata

Yuuji Kitajima

Kiyonori Tsuda

Noriyuki Kimura

Tetsuro Hirota

Tsuyoshi Imamura

Masahiro Watanabe

Fumihito Itoh

Shingo Nishizaki

Satoshi Takano

Kazuhisa Sudo

Junichi Awamura

Shinichi Kawahara

Ichiro Kadota

Shingo Sakashita

Shigekazu Enoki

Junichi Terai

Tomoki Murayama

Masaya Fukuda

Yuji Suzuki

Hideki Kimura

Atsushi Kurokawa

Satoshi Kojima

Seiji Terazawa

Yoshio Hattori

Koichi Sakata

Hitoshi Iwatsuki

Yoshihiro Sakai

Yoshitaka Sekiguchi

Hisashi Nakajima

Masashi Nagayama

Hiroyuki Kishida

Noboru Sawayama

Shigenori Yaguchi

Tsuneyasu Nagatomo

Takashi Hodoshima

Hiroyuki Uemura

Toyoaki Tano

Hiroshi Tohmatsu

Saori Yamada

Mikio Ishibashi

Akira Azami

Tsutomu Katoh

Mariko Takii

Masana Shiba

Hirosato Amano

Takamichi Enomoto

Toshiki Hayashi

Kenichi Mashiko

Katsumi Masuda

Tokuya Ohjimi

Shinya Hanatani

Hiroomi Motohashi

Tatsuya Ohhira

Ryoichi Teranishi

Kiyotaka Sakai

Masakuni Konja

Kunio Makino

Hidefumi Nishitsuji

Yuji Kitajima

Sigekazu Enoki

Shin-ichi Kawahara

Chihiro Kikuchi

Kenji Nakajima

Masazumi Yahata

A powder container contains powder and is attached to an image forming apparatus including: a conveying nozzle to convey the powder; a powder receiving hole of the conveying nozzle to receive the powder from the powder container; an apparatus main-body gear to transmit a driving force to the powder container; and a container receiving section including the conveying nozzle and receiving the powder container. The powder container includes: an opening at one end of the powder container in a longitudinal direction; a nozzle receiver at the opening to receive the conveying nozzle; a conveyor to convey the powder; and a container gear to drive the conveyor by meshing with the apparatus main-body gear. The container gear is to mesh with the apparatus main-body gear at a position closer to the opening than the powder receiving hole in the longitudinal direction. The opening is to mate with the container receiving section.

Powder container

A nozzle insertion member is in a powder container that includes a nozzle insertion opening into which a conveying nozzle is inserted. The nozzle insertion member includes an opening/closing structure to move to an opening position to open the nozzle insertion opening by being pressed by the inserted conveying nozzle, and to a closing position to close the nozzle insertion opening when the conveying nozzle is separated from the nozzle insertion member, and a seal arranged at the nozzle insertion opening and including a through hole into which the conveying nozzle is insertable. The opening/closing structure includes a front cylindrical portion to contact with an inner surface of the through hole, and a slide area formed on another side relative to the front cylindrical portion. W&#x3c;Wis satisfied, where Wis an inner diameter of the through hole, and Wis an outer diameter of the slide area.

Powder container including an opening and a shutter with a front end including a surface with lower friction

Nozzle insertion member, powder container, and image forming apparatus

A nozzle insertion member is in a powder container that includes a nozzle insertion opening into which a conveying nozzle is inserted. The nozzle insertion member includes an opening/closing structure to move to an opening position to open the nozzle insertion opening by being pressed by the inserted conveying nozzle, and to a closing position to close the nozzle insertion opening when the conveying nozzle is separated from the nozzle insertion member, and a seal arranged at the nozzle insertion opening and including a through hole into which the conveying nozzle is insertable. The opening/closing structure includes a front cylindrical portion to contact with an inner surface of the through hole, and a slide area formed on another side relative to the front cylindrical portion. W1&#x3c;W4 is satisfied, where W1 is an inner diameter of the through hole, and W4 is an outer diameter of the slide area.

A developing device includes a developer bearer including a magnetic field generator, a developer regulator disposed opposite the developer bearer across a regulation gap, a developer containing compartment disposed below the developer bearer, and a conveying screw disposed in the developer containing compartment and including a shaft having a diameter greater than a radius of the conveying screw. On a cross section perpendicular to an axial direction of the conveying screw, a developer scooping pole of the magnetic field generator to scoop the developer from the developer containing compartment onto the developer bearer is disposed between the regulation gap and a bisector dividing an angle extending from a first line, which connects a center of the developer bearer and a center of the conveying screw, to a second line, which connects the center of the developer bearer and the regulation gap, in a rotation direction of the developer bearer.

Developing device, and image forming apparatus and process cartridge incorporating same

A nozzle insertion member arranged in a powder container includes a nozzle insertion opening; an opening/closing member opening/closing the nozzle insertion opening; a supporting member supporting the opening/closing member; and a biasing member provided to the supporting member to bias the opening/closing member toward a closing position. When the powder is supplied to the conveying nozzle along with rotation of a rotary conveyor arranged inside the powder container, the supporting member rotates with the rotation of the conveyor. The opening/closing member is rotated by a drive transmitting mechanism with rotation of the supporting member. The mechanism includes an elongated member arranged on the opening/closing member and penetrating through an opening formed on the supporting member; and a drive transmitted portion formed on the elongated member; and a drive transmitting portion formed on an inner surface of the opening and configured to come into contact with the drive transmitted portion.

A developing device includes a developer bearer to bear developer, a developer containing compartment disposed lower than the developer bearer, and a conveying screw disposed in the developer containing compartment. The developing device further includes an inclined face extending from an inner wall of the developer containing compartment obliquely upward toward the developer bearer, and the inclined face opposes the conveying screw from above.

A developing device includes a developer bearer, a magnetic field generator, a casing having an opening, a developer conveyor to rotate inside a developer containing compartment below the developer bearer, and a developer regulator. A side wall of the casing defines a bottom end of the opening, and the developer regulator is disposed on the side wall. The side wall includes an upper end face facing the developer bearer below an axis of the developer bearer and a curved inner face along an orbit of rotation of the developer conveyor, extending from below the developer conveyor toward the upper end face. On a virtual plane perpendicular to the axis of the developer bearer, an intersection between a tangent line to an upper end of the curved inner face and the surface of the developer bearer is in a range from a tangential magnetic-flux peak and a closest approach point.

Developing device and image forming apparatus and process cartridge incorporating same

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Kanagawa, Japan

Shunji Katoh